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The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to khaos01207 For This Useful Post:

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

We all (for the most part) have championship asperations this year, and I think we should have high expectations for this stretch as well... While I wont be completely bummed if we go 3-3, I think 5-1 is what we should expect from this club...

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

If Pacers go 5-1 or 6-0, I'd go full blown Top of the World mode...love the Imagine Dragons song.

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

What a brutal road trip. Jesus. Sorry about your tough road trip. How about a trip home....against the Heat. Thanks NBA.

It's going to be ugly. Even great teams lose on the road, and they have to play 4 of the best teams in the West on the road? Yeah. It's going to get ugly. But, I'm sure we'll all forget about it once the Pacers hit an easier stretch of games.

Find me on the internets @mattiecolin

Read it and weep:

When George Hill is above 15% usage we won 73.5% of games. Below 15% usage we won 61.9%

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

I always figure with a stretch of games like this sooner or later it will take its toll. Meaning the pacers may be able to get up to play these 6 games, maybe go 5-1, the adverse impact might now show up until the games that are just after the Miami game. So if the Pacers play really well in this stretch, I would expect to see a couple of unexpected losses in mid December

The Following User Says Thank You to Unclebuck For This Useful Post:

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

Just for the sake of conversation what do you think about the Spurs match-up? Personally I think that no matter how good we are and we are REALLY good, you just know we are not gonna win there (see past games as I think we haven't won there since they moved to their new arena or that we just don't match up well against them).

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

It looks like a lot of members of PD are going to be unhappy if the team goes 3-3.

How in the world can you do this to yourselves? It seems like even when the team is successful you raise your expectations so high that you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Does your fandom somehow depend on being disappointed?

We're somewhere we haven't been in a long time - in the rarefied air of the top 4-5 teams in the league. But every other team that has been in that position has lost games - some of them to teams that they shouldn't have, some of them to teams that match up well, some of them during bad road trips, and some of them during the playoffs.

Seems to me that, while we should be excited at the prospect of winning 5-1, to be bummed at all to go .500 on a brutal road trip this early in the season is pretty fatalistic.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

It looks like a lot of members of PD are going to be unhappy if the team goes 3-3.

How in the world can you do this to yourselves? It seems like even when the team is successful you raise your expectations so high that you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Does your fandom somehow depend on being disappointed?

We're somewhere we haven't been in a long time - in the rarefied air of the top 4-5 teams in the league. But every other team that has been in that position has lost games - some of them to teams that they shouldn't have, some of them to teams that match up well, some of them during bad road trips, and some of them during the playoffs.

Seems to me that, while we should be excited at the prospect of winning 5-1, to be bummed at all to go .500 on a brutal road trip this early in the season is pretty fatalistic.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

It looks like a lot of members of PD are going to be unhappy if the team goes 3-3.

How in the world can you do this to yourselves? It seems like even when the team is successful you raise your expectations so high that you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Does your fandom somehow depend on being disappointed?

We're somewhere we haven't been in a long time - in the rarefied air of the top 4-5 teams in the league. But every other team that has been in that position has lost games - some of them to teams that they shouldn't have, some of them to teams that match up well, some of them during bad road trips, and some of them during the playoffs.

Seems to me that, while we should be excited at the prospect of winning 5-1, to be bummed at all to go .500 on a brutal road trip this early in the season is pretty fatalistic.

I don't see how my expectations are high? As I see it, your expectations are low. I don't think it is unrealistic to expect this team to go .500 against teams of similar ability, and to expect them to beat everyone else. Obviously they aren't always going to beat every team they should beat, but I don't see that as a reason to not expect them to. So when I see 4 teams on the same level as the Pacers, and two teams that are not I expect them to go at least 4-2.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

I always figure with a stretch of games like this sooner or later it will take its toll. Meaning the pacers may be able to get up to play these 6 games, maybe go 5-1, the adverse impact might now show up until the games that are just after the Miami game. So if the Pacers play really well in this stretch, I would expect to see a couple of unexpected losses in mid December

Normally, I think you're right. This group could be that rare exception. Imagine if they are? Wow.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

Just for the sake of conversation what do you think about the Spurs match-up? Personally I think that no matter how good we are and we are REALLY good, you just know we are not gonna win there (see past games as I think we haven't won there since they moved to their new arena or that we just don't match up well against them).

It always feels like our defense struggles to stop them more than it does against basically anyone else because it's all about movement, picks, and they're comfortable shooting a lot of mid range jumpers. That makes it much more difficult because then we have to lean more on our shaky offense. Of course, Paul George being who he is now, and Scola off the bench, might make things easier in that respect when the going gets tough. It'll be interesting.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

I don't see how my expectations are high? As I see it, your expectations are low. I don't think it is unrealistic to expect this team to go .500 against teams of similar ability, and to expect them to beat everyone else. Obviously they aren't always going to beat every team they should beat, but I don't see that as a reason to not expect them to. So when I see 4 teams on the same level as the Pacers, and two teams that are not I expect them to go at least 4-2.

But you are looking at these games in a vacuum. We will be at a major disadvantage to these teams, both being on the road and playing with less rest than most of these teams.

Think about the playoffs. When you get to the final couple of rounds, what is your goal? Win one game on the road? That would be less than a 500 road record. That is the caliber teams that we will be playing over the next two weeks. How can you expect the team to just sweep through the trip? Btw, winning 60 games requires you to lose 22 games. Keep that in mind. I really hope that they don't lose any games, but this is not an 81 win team. (That is my attempt at a reverse jinx)

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

I don't see how my expectations are high? As I see it, your expectations are low. I don't think it is unrealistic to expect this team to go .500 against teams of similar ability, and to expect them to beat everyone else. Obviously they aren't always going to beat every team they should beat, but I don't see that as a reason to not expect them to. So when I see 4 teams on the same level as the Pacers, and two teams that are not I expect them to go at least 4-2.

I suppose it's the emotional definition of "expectation" for me. I predicted 4-2, but the reality of the situation (not just on the road but 6 games in 10 nights with arguably the hardest game coming in the typically hardest time (the first game after coming home from a road trip), my expectations aren't going to be shattered if they end up 3-3 or even 2-4. I won't be at all "bummed" about it, I'll expect them to bounce back.

I usually see that if a team doesn't live up to expectations that means there is a problem. If this team goes 3-3 on this trip there won't be a problem (obviously, depending on how they go about it - though going 6-0 and struggling in the first half every game would indicate a problem in spite of the wins as well).

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

my expectations aren't going to be shattered if they end up 3-3 or even 2-4.

Stop right there. This is the second post in this thread where you have taken something I said and twisted it into something worse than what I actually said by many fold. I did not say shattered, I did not say pack it in. All I said was disappointment. Maybe if you take what I say at face value instead of putting a twist to it that is not there you will understand my position better.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

So basically you don't expect this team to go through any rough patches unless they get injured? If not, how many wins do you expect at the end of the season? Just clarifying.

I don't know if they are going to go through a rough patch or not, I do know if it does happen that I have no idea as to when it will happen. So I don't go into things with a pessimistic assumption that this is when they will be going through a rough patch.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

Stop right there. This is the second post in this thread where you have taken something I said and twisted it into something worse than what I actually said by many fold. I did not say shattered, I did not say pack it in. All I said was disappointment. Maybe if you take what I say at face value instead of putting a twist to it that is not there you will understand my position better.

I understand, and fair enough regarding the first reply I made to you. But the later overall post was not just to you, though you did reply to it - it used the word "unhappy" and this conversation is continuing from there, using the range from "shattered" to "bummed" so it would cover more than just you.

How I feel about PD's reaction is all going to depend on the expression of disappointment. For some, that is just an "oh, well, I wish we could have won that". I just feel that when someone says they are "disappointed" that a team didn't meet "expectations", that implies there is something wrong, not just that a team didn't live up to hopes - and, far too often, people start jumping off the ride at the first sign of disappointment. Not saying you are one of them, just saying.

Does that make sense?

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

It looks like a lot of members of PD are going to be unhappy if the team goes 3-3.

How in the world can you do this to yourselves? It seems like even when the team is successful you raise your expectations so high that you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Does your fandom somehow depend on being disappointed?

We're somewhere we haven't been in a long time - in the rarefied air of the top 4-5 teams in the league. But every other team that has been in that position has lost games - some of them to teams that they shouldn't have, some of them to teams that match up well, some of them during bad road trips, and some of them during the playoffs.

Seems to me that, while we should be excited at the prospect of winning 5-1, to be bummed at all to go .500 on a brutal road trip this early in the season is pretty fatalistic.

I guess I am at the opposite extreme, to me this road trip says very little about this team. The Pacers are never going to be in a position where they have to play four excellent teams in two back to back series in order to advance in the playoffs. This road trip is structured so fundamentally different than how teams quantify success in the NBA (winning playoff series where you play the same team for 7 games max in two different cities and never play back to backs) that it has very limited bearing on our course for the rest of the year. I would not use this road trip to forecast the team's future in either a positive or negative way.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

It looks like a lot of members of PD are going to be unhappy if the team goes 3-3.

How in the world can you do this to yourselves? It seems like even when the team is successful you raise your expectations so high that you are almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Does your fandom somehow depend on being disappointed?

We're somewhere we haven't been in a long time - in the rarefied air of the top 4-5 teams in the league. But every other team that has been in that position has lost games - some of them to teams that they shouldn't have, some of them to teams that match up well, some of them during bad road trips, and some of them during the playoffs.

Seems to me that, while we should be excited at the prospect of winning 5-1, to be bummed at all to go .500 on a brutal road trip this early in the season is pretty fatalistic.

I'll be unhappy if we go 3-3. Does it mean I don't think we will win the title because of it? Of course not. But we are the favored team in all of these games except for vs the Spurs. Sure, its not an easy stretch, but this is a damn good basketball team. And I will not be happy playing .500 ball for any stretch of the season. We're better than that. If we want the #1 seed, we need to play better than that.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

Think about the playoffs. When you get to the final couple of rounds, what is your goal? Win one game on the road? That would be less than a 500 road record. That is the caliber teams that we will be playing over the next two weeks. How can you expect the team to just sweep through the trip? Btw, winning 60 games requires you to lose 22 games. Keep that in mind. I really hope that they don't lose any games, but this is not an 81 win team. (That is my attempt at a reverse jinx)

You make a really good point. A team could win the championship without winning any road games if they have homecourt advantage throughout. That never has nor will it ever happen, but the point is in a 7 game series you only have to win 1 out of 3 or 4 road games to win the series. (Of course you have to win the home games.)

Another topic: every team goes through 2 or 3 rough patches during the season, when they don't play well for whatever reason. The difference is a 60 win team might go 4-5 during a bad stretch. A 30 win team will go 1-8.

Now overall and on average I expect the pacers to continue to play like they have been. Even though they are 13-1 they haven't played great every game nor every quarter or half within games. But the difference is to win in OKC, SA or Miami you cannot play OK for only half the game or for a 16 minute stretch. You have to play well almost the entire game on the road if the home team is playing well.

For example if the Pacers play just like they did against the Sixers when they play at the Clippers, OKC, SA and Miami - I expect the pacers to lose all 4 of those games. And they likely would lose at Portland too.

Re: December 1-December 10, 6 games in 10 days... how many can we win?

We need to hold onto our 2 game lead over them IMO to still be up going into 12/10

Last edited by Slick Pinkham; 11-27-2013 at 08:08 PM.

The poster "pacertom" since this forum began (and before!). I changed my name here to "Slick Pinkham" in honor of the imaginary player That Bobby "Slick" Leonard picked late in the 1971 ABA draft (true story!)